Thanks to dolphinsiren77 for your review!
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Ziva returned to the present, and smiled as she thought of how her father had helped her to locate a house in Haifa that would be suitable for a man in a wheelchair. She had been thrilled when they had found a one-story house with a garden that opened onto a private beach. It was the perfect place for Gibbs, especially when the time to sail his boat would come.
"So Boss," Tony was saying, "do you have to learn Hebrew now? I'm not sure I could ever speak a language without vowels."
"Ya think, DiNozzo?" Gibbs smirked, his blue eyes flashing.
Jethro had changed a lot in the past weeks. Gone was the pallor and empty gaze that had so worried Ziva upon her arrival. He was now alert, tanned, and had regained some weight too. As for his hair and beard, she had insisted on helping him to cut the former and shave the latter before she left for Israel, because she hadn't wanted to be surprised by an awful moustache on her return.
"Tony," Ziva explained, "the vowels aren't written down, but we do use them. It just takes a bit of practice to learn which one needs to be used while reading something. In any case, we all know English in the office, so I don't think there will be any problem."
In that moment a taxi came around the hangar and stopped near the door. The door opened and Abby appeared, running toward the small group of friends as fast as her dangerously high platform boots allowed.
"Gibbs! Ziva! Thank God you're still here! My car had a flat tire – again- and I had to call the taxi, and it took ages to arrive and then the driver didn't know the name of this little private airport. Well, looking around it doesn't seem that little, but it was so small on the navigator and we struggled to find it-"
"Calm down, Abs!" Gibbs said and reached up with his hand to grab and squeeze her wildly gesturing arm. "You're here now, and we haven't left yet."
"We would never leave without saying goodbye to you, Abby," Ziva interjected, "This is one of the advantages of using a private jet."
Abby nodded, finally calmer, and sat down on Gibbs' legs, hugging him tightly. "I'll miss you, my silver-haired fox," she said softly.
"I'll miss you too, Abs, but I promise, I'll come to visit, and of course you're welcome to visit too."
"Promise?"
"Promise. In the meantime, the brown-haired fox here will take care of you and bring you all the Caf-Pow! you want."
"Brown-haired fox?" Abby looked at Tony and grimaced, "Tony isn't a fox, Gibbs!"
"Then what am I?" Tony asked, looking at her challengingly.
"You're… you are…"
"A brown-haired porcupine!" Ziva exclaimed, remembering a long past conversation.
Everyone laughed as Tony looked affronted and gingerly touched his spiky hair, "I look good like this!"
"Indeed you do," Ziva commented with a gentle smile. She would have never imagined the first time she had met the cocky agent, that one day he would have become one of her best friends. "Come to visit us, Tony. Haifa is both a tourist and university town. I am sure you will find plenty of women that will love your Italian charm."
Tony's eyes flashed, "That's interesting: a new hunting ground for Anthony DiNozzo!"
"Hey Boss?" McGee asked, still not wanting to ever change the man's title.
"Yeah, McGee?"
"What is the crew loading now?" McGee pointed to a huge object wrapped with sheets eight men were slowly pushing inside the plane.
Gibbs grinned, "That's my boat."
McGee's eyes bulged, "Your boat?! But how…I mean how did you manage to take it out of your basement?"
Gibbs smirked, "Not saying."
"Oh, come on, McGenius, the Boss is having fun at your expense. There is no way he can have moved that boat out of his house," Tony said, flashing a grin. "I'm right, Boss, huh?"
"Nope. Go to check my basement on your way home; Ducky has the keys."
Tony exchanged a 'he-is-joking-right?' look with Ziva, but she shook her head.
The hatch of the plane slid close as the airport crew walked away. The time to board had finally come.
One by one, the members of Team Gibbs said goodbye to both him and Ziva and showed once again the affection that each of them had for the other.
Ducky advised Gibbs to keep on with the physical therapy for his legs, then embraced both his old friend and Ziva and wished them 'fare thee well'.
Tony promised Gibbs to take care of the team and keep an eye on Leon Vance—who wasn't loved by any of them. He also wished happiness to the couple and asked to be alerted when the Kelly would finally be ready to take the sea.
McGee thanked Gibbs for teaching him so much and for having taken him away from his administrative job in Norfolk and making him a field agent. He also promised he would visit soon, because he needed some local colour and atmosphere for his new book about L.J. Tibbs' adventures in the Middle East.
Finally Abby came forward. There were tears in her eyes as she hugged both Ziva and Gibbs.
"I'll miss you so much, guys, but I guess that if you're happy – and you're, I can see it – then I'll be happy too. Just remember this, Gibbs!" Abby hand signed something that made his face flush crimson.
"Abby!" he exclaimed, clearly embarrassed.
"What did she say?" Ziva, Tony and McGee asked in unison.
"I said that I want to be an auntie soon! So you two don't think only about work, but get down to it and make some Gibblets!"
"Abby!" Ziva exclaimed, as Tony, McGee and even Ducky burst in laughter and Abby stared at the couple with a smug smile.
When the laughter died, Ziva walked behind her lover's wheelchair, bent down, kissed his cheek and, just as Gibbs' hand rose pull her closer, she looked straight into Abby's expectant face, and vowed, "We will do our best, Abby."
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Do you like this parting on an airport tarmac? Much better than the one in "Aliyah", I think. Let me know, OK?